Are you curious about whether boomerangs really return? Or, have your past experiences with boomerangs ended in frustration and failure? If you want a boomerang that works, this guide will help you buy a quality returning boomerang on eBay. You may be shopping for a boomerang for recreation, decoration, education, or curiousity. The good news is, real boomerangs really come back and are loads of fun!

An assortment of real, returning sport boomerangs purchased on eBay.

If you are new to boomerangs and don't think you can tell a real from a fake, consider buying one or two boomerangs from a kite store or boomerang dealer before making your first eBay boomerang purchase. That said, there are some great deals on quality boomerangs here on eBay. Unfortunately for beginners, they are often buried among a lot of items that resemble boomerangs, but won't return. I've tailored this guide for eBay bidders who wants to purchase real, returning boomerangs for sport or recreation, and don't know a lot about boomerangs yet.

Finding a Good Boomerang

If you are new to boomerangs and want to avoid getting ripped off on sticks that doesn't return, you need to do a little research away from eBay.

• Three beginning online resources are the United States Boomerang Association, Ted Bailey's Boomerang World, The Boomerang Man, and Boomerang News which collectively have links to nearly everything there is on the internet about boomerangs; eBay does not allow external links in reviews, but with your favorite search engine you should be able to find links to these resources and other good manufacturers and craftsmen.
• Several examples of common "name brand" commercially-made returning boomerangs you'll see on eBay are the Colorado and Rangs lines, and the Aerobie Orbiter. There are many other makers that may be less recognizable but still good; this is because much of the boomerang-making "industry" is run out of people's workshops and garages.
• A way to tell if a specific boomerang brand or model may actually work is that you might also see it featured by reputable kite stores and/or one of several well-respected distributors who specialize almost exclusively in returning boomerangs: Ted Bailey, Boomerang Man, boomerangs.com and LMI/Fox all have easy-to-find online sites. These pages display a selection of quality boomerangs you can reference to see if what you're considering on eBay is a real boomerang.
• Another helpful resource is online discussion forums or groups that focus on boomerangs, such as Boomerang_Talk on Yahoo Groups. These enthusiasts will be more than happy to help you determine whether a boomerang you're interested in is an actual returner or not. There's also a good chance that corresponding online may put you in contact with the very craftsman who made the boomerang you're considering. Remember, many online boomerang enthusiasts also bid on eBay! 
• Sites with consumer reviews such as Amazon and Epinions have reviews on several common boomerangs. There are currently no boomerang reviews on eBay, but you can help the next guy looking for a boomerang at auction by writing one.
• Especially with non-"name brand" boomerangs, you can compare a boomerang you are considering with similar boomerangs sold or auctioned by boomerang-specific collectibles/auction sites, such as Ted Bailey's Boomerang World, to get an idea of how closely it resembles a boomerang that is known to return. If the auction listing includes a photo of the back of a boomerang, you can often find clues such as the maker's name to help you determine the origin of the stick.
• Several boomerang sellers on eBay are also notable, reputable boomerang craftsmen! A little research of the eBay listing and off-eBay may help you determine if you are buying a boomerang straight from the maker, or you can email the seller directly and ask. Good boomerang craftsmen personally flight test their products before selling.
• If you want to know some eBay sellers from whom I have bought quality boomerangs or who I know sell only quality boomerangs, you are welcome to click on my eBay ID and look at my list of favorite sellers. These aren't the only sellers on eBay who offer real boomerangs, but I know and have purchased boomerangs from several of them, and I have never seen any of these sellers offer bad boomerangs.
• Some final tidbits to know about boomerangs before committing to bid:
• Real returning boomerangs can be made of wood, paxolin (a phenolic-based composite), carbon fiber, fiberglass, various plastics and foams, or occasionally even aluminum. They have a variety of sizes and shapes, usually varying between two and four wings.
• Quality boomerangs are made all over the world; France and Germany are not the first countries you think of when you hear boomerangs, but some of the best boomerangs in the world are from there.
• A few boomerangs are ambidextrous, but most are made specifically for either right- or left-handed throwers only. If it is not clear in the listing which hand it is for, ask the seller or compare the wing orientation to a known right- or left-handed boomerang. With painted, natural elbow, or strip-laminated boomerangs, this can still be difficult to tell from a photo. Some volume eBay sellers may give you the option of a right- or left-handed boomerang, so ask the seller before bidding if it's an issue.

             

On the left is a left-handed boomerang, and on the right is a right-handed boomerang. Note the mirror-image orientation of the wings; the leftie is designed to rotate clockwise and fly a clockwise flight path, while the rightie will rotate and fly counter-clockwise when thrown.

• The wings on a boomerang roughly resemble airplane wings, with a thick, blunt leading edge and a narrower, sharper trailing edge. The orientation of these determines whether the boomerang is right or left-handed. The shape of the wings can sometimes be difficult to determine from photographs. If an object obviously has little or no trailing edge taper, it is possible that it is not a real returning boomerang.
• Among boomerang connoisseurs and enthusiasts, modern boomerangs' "brand names" are often synonymous with the name of the individual who made them; for example, a "Master Designs" boomerang is commonly known as a "Kendall Davis," and "Leading Edge" boomerangs are more commonly known as "Chet Snouffers." Both of these guys made quality boomerangs that have been auctioned on eBay. A little research online will give you an idea of several makers who are held in sufficient regard for you to confidently consider their boomerangs the "real thing."
• There aren't really any professional boomerang athletes, but competitive amateur boomerang throwers frequently make and sell their boomerangs; searching national and international competition records or the Guinness World Records can yield the names of numerous quality boomerang makers.
• Not every boomerang for sale is suitable for beginners, even if it really works. If a seller is knowledgeable about boomerangs and is selling an advanced model, he or she will often include in the listing that it is "for advanced throwers," or "not for beginners." Long distance ("LD") and competition boomerangs such as "MTA" (maximum time aloft) and "fastcatch" are generally not recommended for beginners.

Narrowing the Search

• Searching eBay for boomerang will yield hundreds of auctions and items for sale; often only 20-40% of these results are items that are represented as returning boomerangs (we'll come back to this). Everything else? Typically DVDs, trading cards, model car parts, sunglasses and jewelry. 
• Several eBay categories may help narrow your search, such as Toys and Hobbies, Collectibles, or occasionally Sporting Goods and various subcategories within those. Most often, returning boomerangs are listed in Toys and Hobbies / Outdoor Toys, Structures / Balls, Frisbees, Boomerangs.
• Try clicking the Buy it Now tab at the top of your eBay page after narrowing the search, or searching in the eBay Stores. This will often bring up twice as many listings including some really good returning boomerangs, most offered in new condition. Expect to pay prices close to true retail value, sometimes more; there's also occasional good deals on used or slightly used sport boomerangs.
• Be careful narrowing the search too much; good boomerangs are sometimes listed in categories that make sense to a seller but that many boomerang bidders ignore or never see because of an obscure category listing.
• A technique that once yielded good results was to search for boomerangs (plural). Sometimes good boomerangs listed here were not listed under "boomerang" (singular), however now eBay auctions redirects this search to the singular "boomerang."
• Finally, there is an eBay seller who advertise "Boomerang Instruction Books" in the "Balls, Frisbees, Boomerangs" category, featuring the picture and name of popular returning boomerangs (Colorado's Yanaki or Glacier, for example). Read the listing carefully! This is not a boomerang, just a small instructional pamphlet that is generic to all Colorado Boomerangs and not specific to the model depicted. Bear in mind that if you purchase a new boomerang made by Colorado from just about anybody, the exact same pamphlet should come with it at no extra cost. All of the same information is also available free from the manufacturer's website. This doesn't necessarily mean you shouldn't buy boomerangs listed by a seller who sells these booklets, just know what you're actually bidding on.

What's a Good Price?

• Checking with the non-eBay sites mentioned earlier may help you determine a fair bid for a boomerang you're considering in an eBay auction.  Sometimes you may find the eBay price or current bid extremely competitive with what you'd pay elsewhere. Note that retail sites that are not boomerang-specific such as Amazon are just as prone to list non-returning boomerangs as eBay is, so just because you see it there doesn't mean it's good!
• You may notice that a lot of boomerangs go their entire listing without any bids; This can mean the experienced boomerang buyers lurking on eBay haven't noticed it, know that it's junk, or think that it's overpriced (or perhaps just priced at a normal retail cost).
• How about collectible returning boomerangs that really work but aren't a "brand name" that you recognize? There are numerous illustrated resources online which describe the same collectible boomerangs that occasionally show up on eBay made by reputable, often legendary boomerang craftsmen. Ted Bailey's Boomerang World site has the best illustrated online listing of recent prices that collectors have paid for boomerangs sold at auction, in addition to a comprehensive listing of boomerang resources from around the world.

Do all Boomerangs Return? Things to Avoid

If only 20-40% of your search results are trying to sell you bent pieces of wood that return, then what percentage of those will actually return? Often, less than half. Why so few?

• A few objects sold as boomerangs are deliberately designed not to return; key features you can look for in the listing are phrases like "non-returning," "kylie," "throwstick," "hunting boomerang," and "killing stick." These can have genuine collectible value but are generally not returning. They are usually heavier and longer with less curve (larger elbow angle) than returning boomerangs. When thrown, they fly straight away from you but do not return.
• Many objects advertised as returning boomerangs are not capable of actually returning to a thrower because they are decorative souvenirs or junk. Identifying these can be difficult because there are relatively few boomerang "name brands" that average consumers will recognize.
• Some keywords to carefully consider are  "genuine," "Australian," "Aborigine," "authentic," "vintage," "guaranteed," or any combination of those when used in a listing. Some sellers do not know much about what they are listing, and just because any or all of these words appear on the listing for a "boomerang" does not necessarily mean that the boomerang is actually Australian, Aborigine, genuine or (surprise) really guaranteed to return.
• If a boomerang is really from Australia, made by genuine Aborigines, or decorated in a traditional theme, it may still not be capable of returning; this can be difficult to determine from just pictures. Though some of the best boomerangs in the world are from Australia, so are a lot of purely artistic (non-returning) pieces, and so are a number of non-returning souvenirs.
• Just because a manufacturer makes a lot of boomerangs and seems to have a "name brand" or slick packaging with a guarantee doesn't necessarily mean that their boomerangs actually work. For example, some name brands that you may recognize from other sporting goods, such as Spalding and SportCraft, have made boomerangs that are not well-regarded for their returning quality. The same may be true for lesser-know names as well, even those with Australian Aboriginal-sounding labels.
• If someone took the trouble to manufacture a boomerang in plastic, it doesn't necessarily mean that it will work. A common example is Chinese-made knockoffs, often sold in "factory sealed" lots of 6, 12, 24 or more on eBay, that may appear similar to popular plastic returning boomerangs; do you really want 12 cheap boomerangs that won't work? There are excellent plastic boomerangs out there like Orbiter, 49er,  Turning Point's Tri-Fly or Pro-Fly, Rangs, and LMI/Fox brands, but beware of the cheap imitation junk.

           

On the left is a plastic "Aussie Boomerang" made by 49er Products in California that is a real, returning boomerang based on the classic "Wham-O" traditional, and might cost you around $5 retail. On the right are cheap copies from China that are almost indistinguishable, but are incapable of returning flight. Trust me, it took buying eight or nine of these turds as a kid for me to realize this.

• Two common example of junk boomerangs are the ubiquitous Bullseye/Rothco traditional-shaped, natural-color plywood boomerang with red painted tips but little or no wing shaping, and the traditional-shaped blue and red Cherokee/Niagara Falls/Ninja/Deerslayer/Florida (or other state name) boomerang: They absolutely will not return, unless you throw them straight up.

The infamous non-returning Bullseye boomerang, currently distributed by Rothco. Note the lack of appreciable wing shaping. Recently these have shown up on eBay as "Australian Returning Boomerang Aussie Outback Wombat." Still the same crappy boomerang.

• As a rule of thumb, if there are dozens of listings for a particular cheap-looking boomerang listed at an extremely cheap price from a mega-eBayer and nobody has bid on them, they are likely junk; the same rule applies for boomerangs listed with a higher minimum bid but that look identical to the junk ones. A recent example of both is $0.97 Bullseye/Rothco boomerang listings which were very common on eBay a half year ago, but are now listed less frequently at significantly higher opening bids/prices (for $8.99); they are still cheap junk. 
• Just because a listing already has numerous bids does not mean it is a real returning boomerang; I keep seeing dozens of bids on junk boomerangs that I can only hope are intended for decoration, because that is all they will be good for. Don't let other bidders do your homework for you.
• A seller's feedback rating only reflects how well his or her previous transactions went down. It does not necessarily mean he or she is selling good boomerangs, as there is no feedback on eBay for how well a boomerang works! Sometimes experienced boomerang buyers who know they are purchasing from a quality boomerang maker or seller may mention the quality of a boomerang in their feedback comments, so reviewing those comments can help.

Now You've Got a Boomerang . . .

• Hopefully it came with detailed throwing instructions! If not, the online resources mentioned above have plenty of information on how to throw your boomerang; just copy them into your favorite internet browser.
• If you've never thrown a boomerang and had it return, and you don't know whether you bought a real returning boomerang or a piece of junk, it may be hard to tell whether the problem is the thrower or the boomerang. It helps if you have a buddy who throws. If you don't, here's a couple tips:
• Boomerang News, YouTube, and various boomerang makers' websites have videos showing how to throw boomerangs.
• The Boomerang_Talk forum on Yahoo has lots of experienced throwers who can help you troubleshoot your throwing style or recommend a better boomerang if yours won't work.
• One challenge for new boomerangers is trying to distinguish between throwing errors and tuning (twisted boomerang) problems. Some boomerangs have deliberately twisted wings to make a suitable flightpath, but storage and heat can also introduce undesired twisting. Generally, boomerangs should lay fairly flat on a flat surface, and you should hear clicking if you tap near the wingtips, but not if you tap near the middle of the wing. If your boomerang doesn't include tuning instruction, there are several online resources mentioned above that you can turn to.
• If you're confident your boomerang is good, then be patient and keep practicing - it's worth it.

Good Luck!